ITV

Category: Regulators

  • Borderless world in context of changing communication paradigm, says Rathore

    Borderless world in context of changing communication paradigm, says Rathore

    New Delhi: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore today said the global community was living in a borderless world in view of the changing communication paradigm. The advent of internet, online news, social media and satellite communication had completely overhauled the communication and information space.

    Delivering his address at the 65th convocation ceremony of Diploma Course in Development Journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications here, he said communication had been a critical component of the governments outreach strategy through people centric initiatives and innovative approaches.

    Citing the example of Mann ki Baat broadcasts and My Gov Portal, the Minister said that innovative use of such two way communication platforms had helped government solicit the views from people for better Governance and to also understand their communication needs and perspective.

    Earlier, Col. Rathore interacted with Indian Information Service officer trainees currently undergoing training at IIMC. He urged them to develop skills, aptitude and understanding of media landscape in taking forward the Government communication roadmap.

    He also launched the social media platforms of IIMC and a memento as a part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Institute which was established in 1965.

    The Development Journalism Course at IIMC was an endeavour towards promoting international cooperation and understanding, especially among countries of the Developing World, through the exchange of experience, expertise and innovations in the field of harnessing communication as a tool of development.

    IIMC conducts a specific course on development journalism for media personnel from developing countries, sponsored by the External Affairs ministry.

  • Ad cap case put off to 13 May, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Ad cap case put off to 13 May, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI: The ad cap case by television channels continues to linger on, with the Delhi High Court once again putting off the hearing to 13 May when it will hear an application by intervenor Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    The matter was put off by chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath as they did not have time to hear the matter in view of urgent cases. In the last hearing on 29 March, a plea was made on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour.

    However counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable counsel pressed for early hearing of his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervenor. The court had on 11 February adjourned the hearing to today when it had agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the court chaired by the chief justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it would hear and conclude the case in the next hearing. On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour. This was the first time that the ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    The court has already directed that the order that TRAI would not take any action against any channel pending the petition would continue. In an earlier hearing, the court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the ad cap issue are also pending with the chief metropolitan magistrate in Delhi.

  • Ad cap case put off to 13 May, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    Ad cap case put off to 13 May, court to hear plea challenging stay order

    NEW DELHI: The ad cap case by television channels continues to linger on, with the Delhi High Court once again putting off the hearing to 13 May when it will hear an application by intervenor Home Cable Network Pvt Ltd seeking vacation of the order staying action against violating television channels.

    The matter was put off by chief justice G Rohini and justice Jayant Nath as they did not have time to hear the matter in view of urgent cases. In the last hearing on 29 March, a plea was made on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting ministry that a proposal was being contemplated to amend the relevant provision relating to limiting ads to 12 minutes an hour.

    However counsel Vivek Sarin of Home Cable counsel pressed for early hearing of his application for vacation of stay. Thereupon, counsel for Discovery Communications said it wanted to press its application to come in as intervenor. The court had on 11 February adjourned the hearing to today when it had agreed to take up the application by Discovery Communications to intervene on the matter.

    Earlier on 27 November last year, the court chaired by the chief justice had said the matter had been pending for some time and therefore it would hear and conclude the case in the next hearing. On that day, the I and B Ministry had informed the Court that it was in talks with the News Broadcasters Association and other stakeholders on the issue of the advertising cap of 12 minutes per hour. This was the first time that the ministry had put in an appearance in the petition filed by the News Broadcasters and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and others.

    Home Cable Network Pvt. Ltd had been permitted to intervene on 5 January and the Court had agreed to consider contentions on whether pay channels should be permitted to carry commercials in view of subscription fee charged by them. Home Cable Counsel Vivek Sarin had told the court that the petitioners had not disclosed that broadcasters had given their consent to observe the 10+2 ad cap rule under the Cable Television Network Regulation Rules 1994 and the Act that followed a year later and also under the Uplink and Downlink Guidelines. He also said pay TV broadcasters should not be allowed to take ads as they charged subscription fee.

    The case, filed by News Broadcasters Association and others against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Union Government, has so far been adjourned from time to time on the plea that the government and the broadcasters are in talks on this issue.

    The court has already directed that the order that TRAI would not take any action against any channel pending the petition would continue. In an earlier hearing, the court had, at the regulator’s instance, directed that all channels keep a record of the advertisements run by them.

    The NBA had challenged the ad cap rule, contending that TRAI does not have jurisdiction to regulate commercial airtime on television channels. Apart from the NBA, the petitions have been filed by Sarthak Entertainment, Pioneer Channel Factory, E24 Glamoru, Sun TV Network, TV Vision, B4U Broadband, 9X Media, Kalaignar, Celebrities Management, Eanadu Television and Raj Television.

    Meanwhille, complaints against fifteen broadcasters by TRAI on the ad cap issue are also pending with the chief metropolitan magistrate in Delhi.

  • Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Administrative Service officer Ajay Mittal is to take over as secretary in the Information & Broadcasting ministry. He will succeed Sunil Arora, who is retires on 30 April. At present, Mittal is based in his home cadre in Himachal Pradesh and belongs to the 1982 batch. His predecessor Arora is an IAS officer from Rajasthan from the 1980 batch.
    Arora joined the ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio. His successor will have the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country.

    Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has an masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the Information and Public Relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary, Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment department, Shimla.

  • Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Administrative Service officer Ajay Mittal is to take over as secretary in the Information & Broadcasting ministry. He will succeed Sunil Arora, who is retires on 30 April. At present, Mittal is based in his home cadre in Himachal Pradesh and belongs to the 1982 batch. His predecessor Arora is an IAS officer from Rajasthan from the 1980 batch.
    Arora joined the ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio. His successor will have the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country.

    Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has an masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the Information and Public Relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary, Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment department, Shimla.

  • Public interface and exhibition wings of MIB integrated for greater synergy

    Public interface and exhibition wings of MIB integrated for greater synergy

    NEW DELHI: The activities of the Song and Drama Division, the Exhibition Wing of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, and the Public Interface Campaign (PIC) work of the Press Information Bureau are to be integrated with the Directorate of Field Publicity.
     
    The move is aimed at bringing in greater functional integration and better outreach in the activities of the various field media units of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
     
    Under the new directive that takes effect immediately, the director of the Song and Drama Division and the additional director general of the exhibition wing of DAVP will directly report to the principal director general of the DFP at the headquarters.
     
    As the budget of all the concerned media units – DFP, S&DD and DAVP – has already been allocated under the ministry budget, the directive issued today said this will be united for the activities to be undertaken by the respective organisations within their budget lines. Thus each unit will only utilize the budget allocated to it for the purpose of public awareness and exhibitions.
     
    The PIB does not have any staff for public awareness campaigns and the concerned information officers are asked to pitch in whenever needed, the order says these activities will be performed by the DFP and the funds earmarked for the DCID Scheme for PIC activities shall be utilizd by DFP.
     
    Interestingly, various committees had  recommended similar integration of activities of different media units of I and B doing similar work in the 1980s. Those committees had said the exhibition wings to be under one head, the film wings to be under one head, and the public information wings to be under a third head.  
     

  • Public interface and exhibition wings of MIB integrated for greater synergy

    Public interface and exhibition wings of MIB integrated for greater synergy

    NEW DELHI: The activities of the Song and Drama Division, the Exhibition Wing of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, and the Public Interface Campaign (PIC) work of the Press Information Bureau are to be integrated with the Directorate of Field Publicity.
     
    The move is aimed at bringing in greater functional integration and better outreach in the activities of the various field media units of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
     
    Under the new directive that takes effect immediately, the director of the Song and Drama Division and the additional director general of the exhibition wing of DAVP will directly report to the principal director general of the DFP at the headquarters.
     
    As the budget of all the concerned media units – DFP, S&DD and DAVP – has already been allocated under the ministry budget, the directive issued today said this will be united for the activities to be undertaken by the respective organisations within their budget lines. Thus each unit will only utilize the budget allocated to it for the purpose of public awareness and exhibitions.
     
    The PIB does not have any staff for public awareness campaigns and the concerned information officers are asked to pitch in whenever needed, the order says these activities will be performed by the DFP and the funds earmarked for the DCID Scheme for PIC activities shall be utilizd by DFP.
     
    Interestingly, various committees had  recommended similar integration of activities of different media units of I and B doing similar work in the 1980s. Those committees had said the exhibition wings to be under one head, the film wings to be under one head, and the public information wings to be under a third head.  
     

  • TDSAT: Four broadcasters asked to work out commercial deals with MSO

    TDSAT: Four broadcasters asked to work out commercial deals with MSO

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal today asked four broadcasters to work out commercial terms with M.C. Transmissions towards working out fresh interconnect agreements.

    Chairman justice Aftab Alam and member B B Srivastava gave the direction to the broadcasters – Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, Star India, Taj Television, and Indiacast UTV Media Distribution Services Pvt. Ltd – after accepting the supplementary report of the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd about the headend of MC Transmissions. Tbe Tribunal listed the matter for further hearing on 26 April.  

    Earlier, the broadcasters had said that despite a BECIL report pointing out some defects, the MSO had not corrected them.  Thereupon, the Tribunal had asked the broadcasters to constitute a joint team or agree upon one of them getting the inspection done by its technical team to examine the headend of M.C. Transmissions for any defects.

    However, the broadcasters reported that they were still not satisfied with the headends, following which BECIL was asked to conduct a fresh examination. “In the aforesaid circumstances, there is no other course but to ask the BECIL to make a supplementary report specific to its earlier findings. Since the supplementary report is on a very limited and specific issue, BECIL, as a special case, will waive its fee”, the Tribunal had said, giving BECIL one week for a its report which was presented today.

  • TDSAT: Four broadcasters asked to work out commercial deals with MSO

    TDSAT: Four broadcasters asked to work out commercial deals with MSO

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal today asked four broadcasters to work out commercial terms with M.C. Transmissions towards working out fresh interconnect agreements.

    Chairman justice Aftab Alam and member B B Srivastava gave the direction to the broadcasters – Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, Star India, Taj Television, and Indiacast UTV Media Distribution Services Pvt. Ltd – after accepting the supplementary report of the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd about the headend of MC Transmissions. Tbe Tribunal listed the matter for further hearing on 26 April.  

    Earlier, the broadcasters had said that despite a BECIL report pointing out some defects, the MSO had not corrected them.  Thereupon, the Tribunal had asked the broadcasters to constitute a joint team or agree upon one of them getting the inspection done by its technical team to examine the headend of M.C. Transmissions for any defects.

    However, the broadcasters reported that they were still not satisfied with the headends, following which BECIL was asked to conduct a fresh examination. “In the aforesaid circumstances, there is no other course but to ask the BECIL to make a supplementary report specific to its earlier findings. Since the supplementary report is on a very limited and specific issue, BECIL, as a special case, will waive its fee”, the Tribunal had said, giving BECIL one week for a its report which was presented today.

  • TDSAT wants to know from MIB if it can adjudicate on denial of security clearances to new TV channels

    TDSAT wants to know from MIB if it can adjudicate on denial of security clearances to new TV channels

    New Delhi: With the Home ministry holding that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to examine the validity of denial of security clearances, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been asked to present its point of view.

    In a petition filed by Positiv TV Pvt. Ltd, chairman Aftab Alam and member B B Srivastava said: “Before taking up the matter any further, we would like the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also to make its stand clear. We accordingly direct Rajeev Sharma to file the reply on behalf of the ministry and listed the matter for 26 April.

    The Home ministry had filed its reply in which apart from contesting the petition on merits, it had raised objections to the maintainability of the petition before the tribunal taking the position that the tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to examine the validity of denial of security clearance to the petitioner.

    Earlier last year, the I and B ministry had said the Home ministry had in principle agreed that security clearances would not be needed for multi-system operators, but no such assurance was given with regard to those who had applied to start new television channels.